07/11/2022
Two greyhound trainers have been issued with Exclusion Orders after the manager of Tralee Greyhound Stadium reported seeing a live rabbit being transferred between the pair in the track’s car park.
Greyhound Racing Ireland’s August 2022 Control Committee Report outlines that Declan Dowling of Tralee Greyhound Stadium gave evidence that on 16th January 2021, he “observed the transfer of a live rabbit” between Joe Bentley (Balloonagh Estate, Tralee, Co. Kerry) and Patrick Lyons (Mountmahon, Abbeyfeale, Co. Limerick) in the car park area at Tralee Greyhound Stadium.
According to the Control Committee report, the transfer of an animal between Lyons and Bentley was undisputed but the two “stated in their evidence that the animal transferred was a ferret, for the purpose of vermin control”.
The two trainers were appearing before the Control Committee to appeal a decision by Greyhound Racing Ireland to issue Exclusion Orders against them.
An exclusion order prohibits a person from “being on any greyhound race track, being at any authorised coursing meeting, being at any public sale of greyhounds”.
The Control Committee said it had to decide “based on the evidence presented and on the balance of probability” if the animal in question was a ferret or a rabbit.
“The Control Committee, having given the matter much consideration, accepted the evidence that what happened on the day in question was the transfer of a rabbit,” it stated in its report. “The Control Committee decided to uphold the decision made by the Board of Rasaiocht Con Eireann [Greyhound Racing Ireland] and affirmed the decision to impose Exclusion Orders on Mr. Patrick Lyons and Mr. Joseph Bentley pursuant to Section 47 of The Greyhound Industry Act 1958.”
Previously - in an unrelated case - a former hunter provided disturbing details about hares at a greyhound track. Quoted in a 2018 Irish Times article, he recalled how he used to go hunting hares and that the live hares were sold outside a greyhound track to dog trainers.
“The hare’s leg would be broken in the car park and it would run away on three legs and they’d let the dogs after it. The dogs would kill it,” he said. “When the dogs would catch the hare, their temper would be bolstered up and then they’d be brought in for a race, so they’d be fired up for the race.”
Blooding greyhounds with small animals is believed to be a common training method in greyhound racing and hare coursing.
In an article entitled “Why They Can’t Halt the Blooding”, one Irish Independent greyhound scene journalist noted: “The bald truth is that greyhound racing would not continue to exist without blooding. It follows that, with a constant greyhound population of close on 30,000, blooding must be widespread. Don’t expect an admission of that from Bord na gCon [Irish Greyhound Board].”
A blooding session was secretly filmed by BBC journalist Donal McIntyre at a private greyhound training track in Tipperary in the 1990s. The video footage which shows Owen McKenna “present as the McKenna dogs are fed live rabbits”. Earlier that day, dozens of rabbits were delivered to the track in cages. In the BBC film, the rabbit cries are clearly audible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q33yiORJfXs
Reporter Donal McIntyre stated: “The use of live bait – in this case rabbits – is against the law in Ireland and the UK and is, in fact, an imprisonable offence. Nevertheless, blooding is a common training technique and in rural areas in Ireland, the use of live lures is an open secret.”
Speaking on RTE’s Liveline on 7 August 2019, a woman involved for years in greyhound racing around Ireland described how she was offered live animals at tracks for blooding.
Joanna (from Poland and living in Ireland) abandoned greyhound racing because of the cruelty. She told listeners: “I personally was offered many times by men walking around the tracks where I raced my dogs - offering different trainers and owners live hares or rabbits. The men are walking around you and asking you if you have any problems with your dogs losing interest for chasing [and telling you that] you can use blooding...I was offered it not just once but a few times at the track.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86zh07UmPm4
The discussion about greyhound industry cruelty was a follow-up to the previous day’s shocking Liveline show in which the use of cats to blood greyhounds was highlighted.
“What I experienced was not cats used for blooding the greyhounds - it was hares and rabbits,” Joanna explained to Joe Duffy. “This is 100 per cent. It is real and it’s going on and it’s true and it’s still going on and on.”
Asked if she believes greyhound racing should be banned, she stated: “Yes, I do now. Although I was a very big fan of it, I do now. The other part of the greyhound cruelty is not just the blooding of the dogs but all the injuries that happen.”
Kerry's Eye reported in July 2018 that "a live rabbit on a leash was dangled above greyhounds being trained at a schooling track in Ballybunion". It outlined that Greyhound Racing Ireland officials saw the rabbit "in great distress and squealing" and that the rabbit was later seen lying in a ditch. During a court case at Listowel District Court, a solicitor "said that there is a practice particularly with reluctant greyhounds, to give dogs the scent of a rabbit following a run to try to persuade them that the lure that they were chasing was, in fact, a live creature."
There was horror and disgust in May 2019 at the discovery of rabbit body parts dumped in a bin bag near a canal path in County Meath. The bag contained the injured bodies of four rabbits as well as entrails, paws and a head. The grim discovery was made by locals who were out walking along a stretch of the Royal Canal. After examining the rabbit remains, they reported that there were no gunshot wounds and that the animals were “likely killed by a dog/dogs as their throats were damaged and ripped”. It is believed that the unfortunate animals may have been victims of blooding.
The capturing of rabbits for use in blooding may be carried out by hunters using ferrets. Ferreting involves sending a ferret down a burrow. The rabbits within are either chased out of the hole and into nets or viciously gripped in place by the ferret while a hunter digs away the earth from above.
A ferreter profiled by the Westmeath Topic newspaper in 2008 revealed: “You have two different types of hunting ferret; you have the 'eye' ferret and you have the 'brain' ferret. An eye ferret in a hole only goes for the rabbit's eye - he blinds him. The 'brain' ferret, he'll bite straight onto the head between the ears.”
"On a typical day I'd get up at six in the morning while it's still dark. People contact me, often lads with greyhounds. These lads would be looking for rabbits,” the ferreter was quoted as saying “I bring my nets, cages, and of course my ferret finder. It's a collar you put on the ferret before he's sent underground. It beeps like a metal detector, so you know where he is...It's handier, because he 'pooches' the rabbit ('It's a certain kind of cul-de-sac where the rabbit goes up into to hide, where the ferret tries to tear at him to make him move). If he doesn't move the rabbit you have to use a barn spade (which is called a ferreting bar) to dig him out..."
He added: "Most of the rabbits go into the nets. The fellas who called me out would often take them off me. They sometimes use them for teasing the greyhound in a thing called a 'rolling cage' which is a small round cage they put the rabbit in to tease the dog before a race."
Anyone with information about blooding activities is urged to immediately report it to the Gardai.
ACTION ALERT
Don’t go greyhound racing. Please join us in urging the government to STOP the massive grants that are propping up this cruel, dog-killing gambling activity. Since 2001, Greyhound Racing Ireland has received €309 million in funding, including €16.8 million for 2020, €19.2 million for 2021 and €17.6 million for 2022. This is unacceptable and must be stopped.
Please contact your local TDs and urge them to oppose this funding. Visit the Oireachtas website for contact details for TDs https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/tds/?term=/ie/oireachtas/house/dail/33
Urge the leaders of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, the Green Party, Sinn Fein and Labour to stop the funding and back a ban on cruel greyhound racing
Micheál Martin TD
Leader, Fianna Fail
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Phone: 021-432 0088
Leinster House: 01–618 3000
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Eamon Ryan TD
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Ivana Bacik TD
Leader, The Labour Party
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Please sign and share the petitions
Irish Government: Stop Giving Millions of Euro to Cruel Greyhound Racing
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Stop supporting the cruel greyhound “industry”
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Watch RTE’s award-winning “Greyhounds Running For Their Lives” documentary
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